Dan "Number 6" Merton. Mechanic. He's the best pilot and mechanic I know. Battle Rifle is his favorite. Smart and precise.

Juliet "Rainbow" Starwer. Background expert. She likes to stay out of the real action. She only does the transport and support missions.

I'm Zack Dark. All-techniques. Squad leader.

We are the Athenians-II, a super soldier division trained to assist the Spartans-II. We use ÉNDJÀs battle suits that are similar to the MJOLNIR suits.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previously:

After 3 hour of sleep and the UNSC soldiers were still able to hold the battlefield where we left it. We all got to the General's office and he briefed us from his one squad assault he was planning.

He had to be mad. Had too. He was planning to use an untested bomb called Nova to blow up the planet and destroy every Covenant on the planet, including the Covenant cruiser that was storing the strange plasma.

"We're going into a cave swarmed by Covenant in THAT piece of old wreck?" Said Kilmyra.

"Yes." I coldly answered.

I was armed with a M100 Close Combat Shotgun and a MA5B. The others were armed with their specialties.

The Doom Puppy went straight down by the same tunnel we used to get out.

We had to plant the Nova near the planet's core. We were calculating that if we continued our descent trough the cliff till we reach the bottom, we would be near enough to plant the bomb.

There was a problem, however. The plasma sphere was now swarming with Elites and Jackals.

As soon as we entered the cave plasma bolts came from all directions.

"Rainbow, leave us there..." I said putting a NAV point on a distant platform. "... and cover us."

"Roger, sir."

She sped up toward the platform. We jumped out, weapons ready. She lifted the Pelican a little, mowed every Covenant on the nearest platform and went down.

We proceeded to that platform and gathered some plasma grenades. We would cross the platforms maze and take a lift that led downwards. The Nova was in The Doom Puppy but the Covenant would surely make the Nova planting uneasy.

We decided to head to the elevator by the plasma sphere path.

We proceeded. The platform was huge and number of Covenant was too. A golden armored Elite saw us. He yelled something. All the other Covenants turned to us.

"Fire!!!" I yelled over the COM.

A salvo of missiles rose from deep below and rained at the Covenants. Only a few dozens survived.

"That's still a large number of foes." Kilmyra said.

"They will need a thousand more to beat us." I replied.

An Elite tried to attack me. In exchange he got a fist sized shotgun hole on the chest. The same happened to four Jackals. Shade was sniping in a one-shot-kill style, his specialty. The twins were blowing up every Covenant scum within their sight. Grip was throwing Elites in the direction of Jackals, killing both. Number 6 was using his Battle Rifle to precisely mow Jackals down. My shotgun clip emptied, realizing this, an Elite started to shoot at me. I fluidly dodge the plasma bolts Matrix style while I reloaded the M100.

"Hell, this Mark Two is way fast!!!" Said Boulder when he saw me dodging.

The Elite got startled for a few seconds before I blow his face with a shotgun blast.

A few seconds later the platform was clear of living Covenants.

The next platform was actually the ring with the plasma sphere in the middle. It was far and swarmed.

Let's ask for Rainbow to wipe out these bastards." Said Grip.

"No, it could blow the plasma sphere, killing us all." I said.

"So what will we do?" Asked Number 6.

"We're gonna kick some Covie ass ol' school style!!!" I and Shade said together.

"When you said no support, did you mean no fireworks?" Said Rock in a sad tune of voice.

"Sorry, dude." I said. Then I implemented over the COM. "Rainbow, I saw some Portable Gauss Cannons in The Seagull's armory. Could you get a couple of them to us?"

"Sure thing, Shadow." She replied. One heartbeat later The Doom Puppy shot upwards at the speed of sound.

"Portable Gauss Cannon? Oh right!!!" Said the twins.

"It is not wise to use a weapon based on EMP when using battle armors like yours." Said Kilmyra.

"Try to hold then for five hours. Send the General an evac signal. Tell him to leave one of the Harpias/G with no crew and with space for one Pelican for us to leave."

"Done. The General has assigned the Harpia/G code KS-1574."

"If we make it to it, change its name to The Millennium Hawk. Rainbow and Shade will pilot it."

"Hey, guys. Who ordered two PGC with extra batteries and rounds?" Said Rainbow.

The twins took the PGC. They looked like a one tube Rocket Launcher with four magnetic accelerators antennas appearing. They both were already with specials EMP absorbing strips.

The twins loaded it. We advanced to the Covenants. A few dozens were killed by sniper shots and Gauss round before they realized they were being attacked. Every time the twins shot, our shields flickered a bit. A hundred Covenant warriors came to us. One Elite came to me using only a Plasma Sword and a fallen Jackal's shield. He was granted for his stupidity with a shotgun blast. A dozen more died the same way. How do these stupid bastards can destroy entire human colonies with this stupidity? War is weird.

Well, when we finally defeated then all, our most feared enemy appeared. A squad of plasma shielded Elites.